Quicken 2014 oddities

I just installed Quicken Premiere 2014. Two odd behaviors caught me by surprise.

First, I could not do a one step update without creating an intuit.com username/password. I will never store my financial data on intuit.com or anythingelse.com, so I am not pleased with this behavior.

Second, after I installed the program, Windows 7 posted a yellow warning message for me. THe message advised me to create a backup key for my encrypted file system (EFS). I certainly do not use Microsoft EFS. Perhaps Quicken does, but I could not find evidence of this.

The second behavior (above) is something that I would really like to understand. Any ideas?

Reply to
David Arnstein
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"David Arnstein" wrote

I just installed Quicken Premiere 2014. Two odd behaviors caught me by surprise.

First, I could not do a one step update without creating an intuit.com username/password. I will never store my financial data on intuit.com or anythingelse.com, so I am not pleased with this behavior.

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If you use Express Web Connect to download from any of your financial institutions, or you use the new Quicken mobile app.; you do store your financial data on Intuit's servers.

Reply to
John Pollard

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Now I am concerned.

In Quicken, I do a daily "one step update." I enter passwords separately for each brokerage and bank that I update. In other words, I don't even allow my local copy of Quicken store my passwords.

Is it still the case that Intuit possesses all of the transactions in my bank and brokerage registers?

I certainly do not use the new Quicken mobile app. I don't know if I use Express Web Connect. Is it the same as "one step update?"

More generally, now can I download data from banks and brokerages without using Express Web Connect? I hope I am already doing that!

Reply to
David Arnstein

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Now I am concerned.

In Quicken, I do a daily "one step update." I enter passwords separately for each brokerage and bank that I update. In other words, I don't even allow my local copy of Quicken store my passwords.

Is it still the case that Intuit possesses all of the transactions in my bank and brokerage registers?

I certainly do not use the new Quicken mobile app. I don't know if I use Express Web Connect. Is it the same as "one step update?"

More generally, now can I download data from banks and brokerages without using Express Web Connect? I hope I am already doing that!

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There are 3 download methods in Quicken: Direct Connect, Web Connect, and Express Web Connect.

To see which method each account is using, see the "Transaction Download" column in your Account List. Or look on the Online Services tab in the Edit Account Details dialog for the account.

Whether you can/do use Express Web Connect is a matter of what download methods are available for your financial institution, and which one of those methods you choose. Paypal, for example, only offers Express Web Connect downloads. BofA, on the other hand, offers all 3 methods (but Direct Connect costs money with BofA).

If you use Direct Connect or Web Connect; nothing is stored on Intuit's servers.

But if you use Express Web Connect, your logon credentials and your financial institution data are stored on Intuit's servers - because Intuit logs on to the financial institution web site overnight (as if it were you manually logging on) to get your data, then when you "download", you're getting the data from Intuit's server.

And, yes, Express Web Connect downloads are usually done with One Step Update (as are Direct Connect downloads).

Reply to
John Pollard

John,

Thank you for patiently explaining the situation. It turns out that I am in good shape. No express web connect's.

I saved your email for future reference!

Reply to
David Arnstein

Wow, John , this is really eye-opening, at least to me. I never knew that Intuit servers were involved in Express Web Connect. I always assumed (dangerous word) that, when I downloaded transactions, they came directly from the institution to my PC.

Reply to
Kobac

Note that when I mentioned downloading transactions in this particular instance, I'm referring to going to the institution's website and downloading directly from their website, which is why I assumed that intuit servers had no part in the transaction.

Reply to
Kobac

"Kobac" wrote

Note that when I mentioned downloading transactions in this particular instance, I'm referring to going to the institution's website and downloading directly from their website, which is why I assumed that intuit servers had no part in the transaction.

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When you manually logon to the financial institution's web site and initiate a download, you are performing a "Web Connect" download. Intuit/Quicken only get involved with those downloads during the verification that the downloaded data is from a valid financial institution ... none of your data/logon-information is stored on any Intuit servers.

"Express Web Connect" on the other hand, does store your data and your user-id/password on Intuit's servers. To accomplish Express Web Connect downloads, Intuit computers logon to your financial institution as if they were you logging on (once every 24 hours, or so - or less frequently, as permitted by the financial institution), and download your data to Intuit servers ... where it awaits your One Step Update to pull it down to your pc.

Reply to
John Pollard

The confusing bit is that, when I'm in Quicken and press CTRL-A to bring up my accounts, in the "Transaction Download" column opposite my bank account, it says "Yes (Express Web Connect)".

Perhaps that means that it is capable of downloading directly from Quicken if I wish to do so, but I always log on directly to my bank's website to download - I never do it from within Quicken. I do that for some credit cards, however. Some of those have a listing in the "Transaction Download" column the same as my bank account, but some say "Yes (Direct Connect)".

Reply to
Kobac

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